By Fabian Ardaya, Chris Kirschner and Eno Sarris

It’s Yankees vs. Dodgers in October. ‘Nuff said.

Our writers preview a World Series matchup between two of baseball’s most storied franchises, with no shortage of star power and storylines.

Play times

Game 1: Yankees at Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 25, time TBD, Fox

Game 2: Yankees at Dodgers, Saturday, Oct. 26, time TBD, Fox

Game 3: Dodgers at Yankees, Monday, Oct. 28, time TBD, Fox

Game 4: Dodgers at Yankees, Tuesday, Oct. 29, time TBD, Fox

Game 5: Dodgers at Yankees, Wednesday, Oct. 30, time TBD, Fox (if necessary)

Game 6: Yankees at Dodgers, Friday, Nov. 1, time TBD, Fox (if necessary)

Game 7: Yankees at Dodgers, Saturday, Nov. 2, time TBD, Fox (if necessary)

Pitching matchups

In a matchup of giants that features arguably the two best regular-season teams (and two of the richest), it may be surprising to say that this World Series probably won’t be about the poor. But research has shown that offense is perhaps the most important strength a team can have in the postseason, and these two pitching staffs were not among the top five of the regular season by any means.

These are two of the best offenses in baseball, against two pitching staffs that are just trying to find ways to make things work. On the New York side, there is at least some good news in the rotation. Gerrit Cole shows his best speed of the season, if not his vintage command. Carlos Rodón has top-shelf stuff and suddenly looks like Andy Pettitte after a session with the legendary Yankees lefty. Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil represent more depth than the Dodgers in this department.

In the Yankees’ bullpen, Tommy Kahnle’s catch-all approach is working, Clay Holmes has been good if not great, and Luke Weaver and his newfound arsenal have been (mostly) great. Funky Jake Cousins ​​has walked or struck out everyone and could become a wild card.

That bullpen falls a bit short compared to a Dodger pen that has shown the depth they had in the regular season, when they had 15 relievers with above-average stuff. Daniel Hudson, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia have combined to throw 32 postseason innings with just three earned runs allowed – and all of those runs came in Game 6 of the NLCS, at that time the Mets had seen their stuff repeatedly in the series.

Jack Flaherty’s velocity had dropped in his last two starts. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler had good performances in their last starts, but conditions may have been ideal for them. How many times can they be in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup before giving way to the bullpen? And how many times will those great hitters in pinstripes face the Dodgers’ pen before they find out?

It’s a race to 108 zeros in four wins. The longer this series goes on, the more favored a better lineup becomes – because those hitters will be looking at each starter and each reliever on the other side multiple times. That means bulk still matters. As these two pitching staffs work their way to the end, the Yankees have better bulk options and a slight edge on the mound. — Sarris

Why the Dodgers will win

Their offense is dynamic and just contributed the fourth-highest run differential in a postseason series, with the kind of patience that puts pressure on even the deepest starting staff, and plenty of thumping from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts to Max Muncy. , Will Smith and NLCS MVP Tommy Edman (the latter two drove in six runs in Sunday’s NLCS clincher). Their injuries have certainly taken their toll: It’s hard to imagine how different this path would have looked for the Dodgers had Tyler Glasnow or Gavin Stone or Clayton Kershaw or Dustin May or any number of their injured starting pitchers been available during this postseason. But they’ve still managed to survive, with a dominant (if heavily used) bullpen that has produced stellar seasons by two established veterans, Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson, who are paying them a combined $3 million this year.

The hope is also that five days off between the end of the NLCS and the start of the World Series will allow the Dodgers to get more out of Freddie Freeman, who played with a badly sprained right ankle in October. – Ardaya

Why the Yankees will win

The Yankees will play their most complete baseball of the season in October.

After being their biggest weakness for most of the regular season, the bullpen developed into a strength starting in mid-September and lasting through October. Kahnle has yet to allow a point in six appearances; Weaver has 12 strikeouts in eight appearances; and Tim Hill has emerged as a high-leverage reliever who could potentially neutralize Los Angeles’ left-handed hitters, namely Ohtani. They may also get starting pitcher Nestor Cortes, who missed the first two rounds of the playoffs due to a flexion injury, in the bullpen for the World Series.

There is a ton of star talent in this series and Juan Soto has lived up to expectations. He hit the go-ahead home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series. Through nine postseason games, Soto has a 203 wRC+. The lineup as a whole has been dangerous, even if Aaron Judge hasn’t performed at his usual level yet. Soto and Gleyber Torres have set the tone at the top of the lineup, as they have combined for just three outs in the first inning of the Yankees’ nine-game stretch in October.

If these two, along with Giancarlo Stanton, continue to produce and Judge can break through, the Yankees will be a tough matchup for the Dodgers. –Kirschner

Check back later for World Series predictions from The Athletics‘s MLB staff.

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Dodgers Player Spotlight: Shohei Ohtani, DH

This is why Ohtani signed with the Dodgers, with the prospect of playing deep into October for the first time in his career. He has a .934 OPS through two postseason runs, including two home runs, and a 1.185 OPS against a Mets team that couldn’t find a consistent answer for him. On a field full of superstars, Ohtani may have stood the tallest (though not literally, at least compared to Judge). Few players in the sport have the ability to bend the world with their finger, something Ohtani has done many times over the course of the first summer of his record-breaking 10-year, $700 million deal. – Ardaya

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Yankees Player Spotlight: Giancarlo Stanton, DH

Stanton gets into these zones several times a season where he can carry the Yankees’ offense himself. He is currently experiencing one of his patented hot streaks. Through nine postseason games, Stanton has five home runs, including four against the Guardians, which earned him the ALCS MVP. Stanton is rushing anything in the offensive zone. Now he’s playing in his first World Series against a franchise he grew up rooting for when he was a kid living in Los Angeles.

Bigger picture for Stanton: A possible World Series title (and perhaps an MVP award) would help his growing Hall of Fame case. If he continues at his current pace, Stanton will finish his career with more than 500 home runs. Injuries have slowed him down and made him one-dimensional in recent seasons, but reaching the 500 home run mark (without the suspicion of performance-enhancing drugs) is seen as a guaranteed passage to Cooperstown. –Kirschner

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Story of the tape

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Dodgers finish Mets to clinch pennant and date Yankees in World Series

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Freddie Freeman is starting the next chapter after his toughest season

Why Dodgers’ defense of NL West is ‘a tick sweeter’

Did Shohei Ohtani just play the best baseball game ever?

Yankees Must Reads

How the Yankees’ faith in their process, despite doubters, paid off with a World Series berth

Yankees legend John Sterling on what he likes (and hates) upon his return from retirement

For Juan Soto, the thrill of the chase is a pennant for the Yankees

Giancarlo Stanton isn’t just the Yankees’ playoff savior. He is their ‘second captain’

Inside Aaron Judge’s swing change that helped him to another monster season

Why Aaron Judge called a players-only meeting that kicked off the Yankees’ September run

A look at the Yankees’ scouting and development of Luis Gil

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(Top image: Aaron Judge: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images; Shohei Ohtani: Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)